Clamshell Tutorial

Back in March I started a Clamshell quilt. See here and here. I Googled one day to see what was out there about the Clamshell - NOT MUCH.....but, I did come across Jossie's blog and discovered she was forming a CLAMSHELL CLUB.....YES, I joined!!! The last day of each month we post our progress. Today is the first post and I decided to give the tutorial everyone asked about in March when I first posted about it........SO......here goes! The above photo shows to pick your pattern. My Clamshell pattern measures 5 inches across it's very widest and is 6 inches long. If you clicked on the 2 here's above, you will find the history on where and when I got my pattern from.

I made 2 patterns pieces just alike.....trimming the top seam allowance off of one. I use self laminating pages to help stabilize my pattern pieces.

Using one of your patterns with all the seam allowances, trace onto your fabric, making sure you line up the grain of your fabric with the arrows on your pattern....very important!
I use what they call a mechanical pencil...the kind you add your own lead to...for tracing my patterns. These pencils make very sharp thin lines. I also use a quilters Sandpaper Board to lay my fabric down for tracing. These are soooo great, your fabric stays put and doesn't pull or bunch up while you are trying to trace.

Cut out using a small rotary cutter. The blade on this cutter of mine measures 1'' across.

Now.....take your pattern that is minus the top seam allowance and line up the bottom edges.

I simply used my left hand to hold down.........

then I used my right hand index finger/fingernail to fold down the top edges to form a nice crease all along the rounded tops edge. You could also use a hard object like this small ruler to form you crease, but I found my fingers worked better and it was a lot faster.

I usually started at the top/middle and worked my way all the way down.

See the nice crease I made all along the top! You could then use a washable glue to tack it down......be careful......too much glue will make your fabric sooooo hard and stiff you won't be able to get a needle through it. There are some nice glue pens out there, but I am just using what I have on hand.

Or your could hand baste it down like I've shown.

I take one Clamshell and lightly fold in half at the top and bottom and line it up vertically using my creases as a guide to help line it up using the graph lines on my June Taylor mini ironing pad.....remember, at this point I am working from the backside. Take 2 other Clamshells and place as I've shown.

Using the graphed lines and 'eye-balling' the 2 pieces, you can line them up fairly straight. I am not overly concerned with having pristine straight rows......after all, who is going to 'whoop' out a straight edge to see if you are all lined up.

I am still 'mulling' over some other ideas to improve this step. I'll let you know if I work out something better.

I then use small tiny sequin pins to attach my 3 pieces. I guess you could use glue here too....I've not tried!

UPDATE: I ended up using dots of glue to piece the clam shells together instead of using the pinning method. You must be careful not to use too much glue or get the glue too close to the edges for it will make the fabric hard and you will not be able to get a needle into it. I liked the glue method. It made the pieces stay together a lot better and there was no slipping around with your placement.

If you do get too much glue and it turns hard, I filled my washing machine with cold water and put my top in and just let it have a good soak to remove the glue. NO washing, just soak and then let your machine drain and spin at the end of the wash cycle. I then took it outside and laid it flat out on the grass in the sun and let it dry naturally. When it was dry I lightly pressed it to make it smooth so I could sandwich it with my batting and the back.

Here is the side you will be hand stitching the pieces together. I simply try to match my applique threads with the printed Clamshell fabric and use a basic applique stitch. I start at the right hand side there and stitch down to the bottom middle and then back up again to the left hand side stitching the 2 muslin pieces to my vintage printed piece.

Here is a view of how your back side will look after you've stitched them together.

I usually work in groups of 3's and 5 Clamshells. I find it is more 'portable' this way and can be good handwork when I travel. My design wall here shows you the different size groups I work with. When I have a more extended period of time to work on them I sew all the groups together to start forming my rows. So far, this has proved to be a very fast and easy system for me.

I hope this is clear and simple enough to follow. Please feel free to email with any questions you might have. OK.....I'm off to work on 'a few' before the day is over. Run over to Jossie's and check her sidebar and click on some of the gals who are also creating this little Clamshell project. HAPPY CLAMMING YA'LL!!!!

OK......Now W-h-e-r-e Were We???

Let me think.......Oh yes....I had a reunion quilt I was working on. I guess I should let you in on the final results of that. For those who may not follow along regularly you can read about the quilt drama here and here. The quilt pattern I finally decided on for the reunion auction quilt was the 4 Patch and Furrows. I was finishing it up the day my reunion started so I didn't take any photos because it is so close to looking the same as the 4 Patch and Furrows one I made here. My 35th class reunion was a blast and our Saturday night auction was VERY successful. I am proud to proclaim my quilt brought $875.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooooooo proud and excited and would have been more ecstatic if that $875.00 had been going into MY pocket!!! My classmate Sharon is helping hold the quilt during the auction and that 'fellow' classmate is our famous auctioneer Mr. Assiter. He auctions off those high dollar cars over on the speed channel...some of your hubbies may have heard and seen him there. He is THE reason my quilt brought such a high dollar!!

I also had another one of my sneaky snake drawings....yes I DID!!! I just appreciated all the help, time, encouragement and suggestions all you lovely ladies left for me while I was trying to work on the 'house' reunion quilt!!! SOOO from the 64 commenters I had from THIS post I drew out 3 names......the lucky winners were..

RHONDA from RAVELLY BLOG
KAREN DIANNE from LIVING LIFE AT LEEHAVEN
TERESA from FABRIC THERAPY BLOG
These gals will receive a little goody from me in the mail as soon as I can get an extra minute!

Mr. Brown Dirt and I have also been dealing with his elderly 88 yr. old father. Tried to do the assisted living..they suggested a few days in the hospital...hospital said NO....so while we were trying to get him into a rest home he fell and broke his hip......next came the surgery and hospital stay and we all traded out sitting with him so he wouldn't be alone.....lots of sleepless nights....BUT, he is now back and safely tucked into the rest home we wanted him in who just happened to have an open bed...yay!! The rest home and FIL's home is in another town about 30 miles from us.....SO, Mr. Brown Dirt now has 2 yards and homes to upkeep and farm and deal with all his other responsibilities!! I'm sure a lot of you out there have been through all of this too!!! We hope he will recover physically....it is sad because his mind is still sharp as a tack!!!

A bright spot in all of this was a lovely package I received from Wanda at Exuberant Color! She offered to share some of her vintage fabrics for me to include in my Clamshell quilt. I thought it was funny when she wrote she thought some of them were ugly but hoped I could find a use for them elsewhere.....They are all wonderful and GREAT Wanda!!!

LOVE!!!

More LOVE!!!

I plan on using each and everyone in my quilt!!! THANK YOU soooooo much. By the time I add the vintage fabrics from my Munner's stash and the ones Sharon and Wanda have shared, this is going to be SOME SPECIAL QUILT to me!!!!

I also realized my 2 yr. blog anniversary came and went on June 24.....there just hasn't been much time for concentrating on the ole blog lately!!!

Crummy Therapy

After I made such an 'episode about my little house reunion quilt (previous 2 posts).....My mind/brain/noggin/the creative side of my head was worn and tired......so, the best kind of therapy I can do is to pull out my crumbs (Quiltville term) and do some mindless sewing.....or another term would be to make fabric. When I pull out my tiny scraps and just start sewing them together it is soooo soothing and relaxing. I can still think on other projects without having to pay too much attention to what I'm sewing. I have my stash categorized into all sizes. My crumbs being at the bottom of the spectrum.....the next size up would be chunks and then strips then strings then 1".....well, you get the picture. I started my crummy therapy/making fabric way back in August 2008.

All those different sizes have their own drawer/bin............I pull out my crumb bin....place it right next to my machine and away I go!!! Most of the time I just reach in and sew up what I have pulled out randomly.

You can sew up these tiny little scraps to any size you want. Sometimes I dig through and sew up all the same color....like the greens above.

You could sew up all reds.......oops......looks like a strip got in there with my crumbs.....that's ok to throw some of those in too.

Maybe you would like the black and whites......

Or maybe you save those little teeny tiny half square triangles 'cause they were just so cute you couldn't throw them away!!

But I think mixing them up all scrappy is a VERY good thing too!

AAaahhhhhh.....I feel sooooo much better after a little crummy therapy......you should try it.....you will feel better too.........and just think about the fun things you can make with that wonderful fabric you made and some of that scrap stash you put to good use.

I'll have a future post on what projects I used my crumbs for......now GO.....isn't it time for your therapy session??